Conversations with myself while loitering with intent.
कर्मंयेवाधिकारस्ते माफलेशुकदाचन

Monday, August 26, 2013

Sports Obsessions

I am a sports nut. I thank GOD that I do not have cable otherwise I would be on sports channels all the time. I would watch Poker, Chess, Spelling Bee, Lumberjack Games, anything where there is people competing. I have recently been reading some books on Football and Leitch's book on fandom. It has made me realize that I am a nut and there is no way I can continue this way. It is my addictive personality. As I have made a decision to curtail my reading scope outside what I need, I should do the same with sports too. I have already done this with music. I am old and I know what I like. There is no reason for me to search out new music. I like Ghazals, Blues, Opera, Outlaw Country, danceable world music, and danceable roots music from here (Zydeco etc). If I am doing that with this I should do that with sports too. I have tried to follow Badger Basketball, Badger Football, Packers, Cubs, Bulls, Fire and Barca. I look into Cricket scores regularly. Add to that reading about Soccer and Baseball, Deadspin, SBNation, BleacherReport etc etc. This is insane.

I will from now on concentrate on Cubs and Barcelona. Similarly I need to stay away from BBoards for the teams. Just look into a decent fan blog website for each. I need to stop with basketball, hockey, football etc. Basketball and Hockey simply because I am just not into it to begin with. Football because of the same reason I don't watch Boxing. I think that with the more I am learning about concussions, the long term effects on people who have played this game, the Brain Scan results etc; the more I think this is similar to boxing and very close to Gladiators. I simply refuse to watch anymore.

Of course, there is the problem of steroids in Baseball. The difference there is the guys doing it are under no duress to do it. Moreover, PLAYING football causes brain damage. With PED's the injury is self inflicted. Playing Baseball is not the proximate cause for it. I am never going to enjoy statistics as much anymore because I think they have been distorted beyond measure. But I will enjoy the games as such. I will enjoy them as such, without bothering to put these doped up fiends on any kind of pedestal. At least with Basketball and Football there is a semblance of a chance that the people playing picked up some education in college. With Soccer and Baseball, it is LCD time. Especially soccer. The kids are picked into academies so young. They are like Tennis prodigies. Stunted people. But at least with Baseball and Soccer the people playing it are not physical freaks. Football has these linemen who are unnaturally large. The fact that they all drop 100 pounds when they stop playing should clue us in. Basketball is for tall people. It is balletic and wonderful at the highest level, but it is still full of freaks.

So it is Soccer and Baseball from now on. Not even the whole thing but just Barca, USA and the Cubs. I do need to find a better site than the BleedCubbieBlue bullshit of a site. I cannot take either the stupid optimism on the site, nor the pollyanna who runs it. I guess Desipio is it. If I can find something better, maybe. Otherwise that is it. God help me!

PS: NO to Desipio. Bleacher nation it is.

SO Soccer and Baseball. Kinds like soccer and cricket while growing up.